As Tom Hooper's film adaptation of Les Misérables storms the world's cinemas,
David Gritten reveals how the film was made.

Rarely does any film open with a greater global awareness than Les Misérables. The impresario Cameron Mackintosh first presented the English-language stage musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel - set against the backdrop of 19th-century revolutionary France - in London 27 years ago; since then it has sold more than 60 million tickets in 42 countries, with translations into 21 languages. Its songs, by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, are known and hummed everywhere; its poster of Cosette, the poor little French girl-waif, taken from Emile Bayard’s original 1862 illustration, is iconic.

Anticipation for the film is heightened by its stellar cast. Hugh Jackman plays the thief Valjean, who breaks parole but tries to redeem his past sins with good works; Russell Crowe is Javert, the dogged policeman who hunts him down. The seamstress Fantine, whose life Valjean fails to save from ruin, is played by Anne Hathaway. And Eddie Redmayne is Marius, the young radical later smitten with the grown-up Cosette, Fantine’s daughter (played by Amanda Seyfried).

This essentially French story was shot almost entirely in Britain over the course of three months, starting in March. Produced by Working Title Films, it is directed by the Englishman Tom Hooper, fresh from massive success with The King’s Speech. Hooper took an audacious approach to Les Mis; rather than lip-sync to their pre-recorded voices, his actors would sing live on camera.